Midsummer's Day
by sdmivoeirjfmlksdjfa
Summary: The day when Lyra and Will are supposed to meet at the Botanic Garden...what will happen? actually it's 2 times, but whatev. 7 chapters...hope it's not boring!...my first fanfic! read and review please! Watch out for spoilers!
1. Chapter 1: Lyra Arrives

Lyra Belacqua wandered about the Botanic Garden on Midsummer's day._No, I'm Lyra Silvertongue,_ she thought, reminding herself of the name given to her by Iorek Byrnison. She trudged along on the dirt path, her feet making long lines in the dust. She sat down on the bench, rusty from the rain in past years. Her dæmon, Pantalaimon, scampered up to her shoulder from a nearby shrub. Lyra jumped.

"Pan! What are you doing here?"

"I told you I'd meet you here." Pantalaimon was still getting used to his freedom and permanent shape.

"I thought you said you were going to stop by Jordan College!"

"Well, I decided to come directly back here." There was silence as Pantalaimon tried to decide whether or not to ask the question whirling around in his mind. He decided he wouldn't, but it was too late. As he was really a part of Lyra, she knew what he was thinking.

"Yes, Pan, I _do_ think Will's going to show up."

"You do know you won't be able to see him?"

"Of course. But I'll know…" she trailed off.

There was more silence, and Pantalaimon shifted his weight around until he became so distraught that he scampered down off Lyra's shoulder and onto the top edge of the bench.

Lyra heard the clock atop the library at Jordan College strike eleven.

"It's not even noon yet," she said. "He'll come at midday, we promised."

"Then why are _you_ here so early?"

"I…" But they both knew why. Lyra was afraid. Afraid of what might happen if Will was there while she wasn't, afraid of what he might think of her if she wasn't there. She had made sure to start out early so that, in case she was held up, she wouldn't be late. She had promised Will a year before that she would be here on Midsummer's Day at midday. It was a full hour until noon, but she was still worried.

"Don't worry. He'll be there."

"I know, Pan, but—"

"He's_ Will,_ Lyra, _Will._ He'll show up. He's Will. Remember when you were in Mrs. Coulter's cave, and you had that dream where you were talking to Roger? You said, 'We can trust him, Roger, I swear, because he's Will.' You said so yourself. You can trust him because he's Will."

"All right, Pan. I can wait." They sat in silence until the clock struck noon, those eight notes sounding through Lyra's head, making her feel as if she were being born again.


	2. Chapter 2: Will Arrives

Will strolled alongside his cat dæmon, Kirvaja. People rushed past him on the street, never stopping to greet him or acknowledge him in any way. He didn't care. He was in a hurry himself. He checked his watch. It was eleven thirty.

"Will, how far is the Botanic Garden?" asked Kirvaja. A man passing Will turned around, trying to figure out who had spoken to the boy with the cat. The man, confused, shrugged and kept walking.

"Not far. Come on, we'll be late. I'll see Lyra, my Lyra! Oh, Kirvaja…"

"You won't see her though, will you? Not when she's in another world."

"No…isn't it horrible, though? We'll be together, though, really. Because the worlds are really more than parallel. They're more like layers."

"Come again?' asked Kirvaja as they crossed the street.

"Like when you take different colored pieces of paper and draw the same shape in the same place on all of them. Then you line them all up and you can see one object. Everything's the same, but it's different."

"I think I understand. Is this it?" Will didn't need to answer. Even if there wasn't a giant sign in front of them reading, "Botanic Garden," Kirvaja would have known. She could feel Will's thoughts of sudden excitement.

"Come on, then. We'll be late." He checked his watch again. "Fifteen minutes left. Just in time to find the bench." They entered the garden, pushing open the rusty gate, which creaked as it slowly swung back into place.

They strolled through the garden, taking the path that Will knew would lead to the spot where Lyra was sitting, right now.

"There," Will breathed, as the rusty old bench came into view. He ran toward it, and Kirvaja followed him.

Will ran his hand along all sides of the bench. When he was finished, he sat down lightly, then settled more into the metal as Kirvaja leapt onto the bench and curled up in Will's lap. She began to purr.

Will checked his watch a third time. "Eleven fifty-nine."

After the minute had passed, his watch alarm sounded, beeping twice. Will wanted the sound to last forever.


	3. Chapter 3: Lyra at Midday

Lyra still sat on the bench, staring down at her lap. Pantalaimon was still perched on the top edge of the bench, but he was closer now, and he could almost touch her shoulder. Lyra wasn't moving, as if she was petrified, but she wasn't afraid, of course. Will was there, and nothing else mattered. He wasn't actually there, but she could sense him through the closed windows she could not see. She could sense the notches that Will could have used to open a window. She reached out and tried to pull open a window, although she knew she would fail. She couldn't do it. You needed the knife to open a window, and the knife…Will had destroyed it when they had parted.

Will was there, in a different world, his own world. Lyra reminded herself that he needed to be in his own world to survive.

"Lyra…" She could almost hear his voice.

"Will…" she whispered, her voice wavering. A tear trickled down her cheek. "Oh, Will…"

"Lyra…" The voice seemed to be coming from nearby, from her own world. She glanced up, but back down at her lap.

"Lyra…" She looked up. The voice definitely came from her own world. "Lyra!" Her head turned sharply, then she closed her eyes in disbelief and relief.

"Pan! What do you want?"

"Did you hear him?"

"Of course I did, but did you have to go and sound exactly like him? I thought he was here, and I would have gone and died if he had been…"

"I'm sorry, Lyra."

"I know, Pan. Me, too." There was silence as she sat back in the bench again. She closed her eyes and could practically see Will sitting in an identical bench. His lips moved, forming the word "Lyra." A tear dripped down his cheek, leaving a thin line.

Lyra could see, in her mind, Will saying her name over and over again.

She opened her eyes, blinked, then closed them again. Now all she saw was the black inside of her eyelids. She then uttered one word.

"Will."


	4. Chapter 4: Will at Midday

Will was sure that Lyra was there. He could feel her. He actually said her name aloud.

"Will…oh, Will…" he heard her say. He could feel the boundaries of his world push at him for a brief moment as he felt Lyra trying to pull a window open. He actually considered putting the knife back together and opening a window for her, but then realized it would be impossible. The knife had already been broken, and it had been slightly misshapen when he had broken it the second time. It would not be a knife if he put it back together, even if he _could_ find someone willing to help him mend it again, which he knew he wouldn't be able to do.

He repeated her name, over and over again. "Lyra, Lyra, Lyra, Lyra, Lyra, Lyra, Lyra…" It became not a name, but a word, then noise, just noise, being repeated over and over again. He stopped when the phase "meaningless noise" came to his mind. No. Lyra was not meaningless, and neither was her name. Lyra meant the world. She was not meaningless.

Then he heard one word that caused a single tear to trickle down his cheek, leaving a thin, wet mark.

"Will." He couldn't even whisper Lyra's name in reply. He was too overcome with a burst of joy and sadness at the same time.


	5. Chapter 5: Farewell

Lyra pulled a white handkerchief from her pocket and wiped the tear away from her face. As she went to put the cloth back into her pocket, she saw that the embroidery in the corner had changed. When she had first bought the handkerchief, she had asked for the initials "LB," for Lyra Belacqua. They now read "LS," for Lyra Silvertongue. That she understood, and knew when that change must have taken place. It would have happened when Iorek Byrnison had first christened her as Lyra Silvertongue. But there was more after the "LS." There was a small, pink heart and the initials "WP" stitched into the cloth. Lyra Silvertongue loves Will Parry. She smiled and carefully folded the cloth so it would fit neatly into her pocket.

_Just one more moment,_ she thought. She leaned back and closed her eyes.

"Goodbye, Will." She thought she heard a faint voice say the same thing, substituting her own name for Will's. She dabbed at her cheek absentmindedly before putting the handkerchief back in her pocket.

She stood up and looked around, running her hand along the seat of the bench before gathering Pantalaimon up in her arms.

"Let's go, Pan, before it gets dark." But he knew she meant, "Before I start wanting to stay here for the rest of my life."

* * *

Will pulled a pack of tissues from his coat pocket and wiped away the tearstain. He had written his initials, "WP," on the front in permanent marker for no particular reason. He saw that three more things had been added. To the right of his initials was a heart, followed by the letters "LS." Yes, of course. Will Parry loves Lyra Silvertongue. 

"Goodbye, Lyra." He thought he heard a faint voice say the same thing, substituting his own name for Lyra's. He dabbed at his cheek absentmindedly before putting the tissues back in his pocket.

He stood up and lightly touched the bench. He picked up Kirvaja.

"Come on, Kirvaja. I'm getting hungry." But she knew he meant, "I need Lyra."

* * *

Will and Lyra stood up simultaneously. Together they slowly walked back up the path, out of the Botanic Garden, carrying their dæmons. Each thought a silent farewell to the other. But it wasn't a "goodbye forever" kind of farewell. It was an "until we meet again" kind of farewell. 


	6. Chapter 6: Age 86

Lyra was stooped over, leaning on her wooden cane, which was almost as old as she was. She had stopped to catch her breath. Midday was nearing, and she had never yet missed a Midsummer's Day, not even when the doctor had told her that she might die if she didn't stay in bed. She paused to remember how she had picked up that wooden cane and waved it fiercely at the doctor, who backed off. She slowly got out of the bed and got dressed, her bad back only slowing her down a little.

Lyra now pushed a strand of wispy gray hair out of her face. Pantalaimon scampered up the cane and put a reassuring paw on her hand.

"Let's go, Pan," she said. "We'll be late." Pantalaimon didn't say anything. He half wondered why she would never give up, never stop coming here every year on the same day. He knew why. She loved Will, and she would never stop loving him.

"D'you think James minded, this thing with Will?"

Lyra almost burst out laughing at the thought of her late husband, who had died in an accident when Lyra was thirty and he was thirty-two. She had never remarried. "No, I don't think he minded."

She pushed the rusty gate to the Botanic Garden and walked down the familiar path to the bench. She sat down with great difficulty and waited for the clock to strike noon. It was a sound she was always glad to hear on days like today.

* * *

Will arrived at the bench with Kirjava and slowly sat down. Kirjava curled up next to him and he pet her, making her purr. He looked at his watch. The tiny minute hand ticked closer and closer to the twelve at the top of the watch.

"Come on," he said, egging the second hand on. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a leather pouch containing the tiny shards of knife.

"Why?" he whispered. "Why did I break it?" Slowly, as the tears collected in his eyes and slowly trickled out, he put the knife back together, like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. He looked away, placing his hand on the pieces of knife as he did so. Kirjava's back arched and she hissed. Will looked back at the pieces and gasped as he saw that the knife had put itself back together perfectly and seamlessly.

He picked up the knife by the handle. It felt familiar and warm in his hand. He closed his eyes and stretched out his arm, doing what he hadn't done in years. He found the snag in the air and cut open a window.

And there was Lyra.


	7. Chapter 7: Lyra and Will

Lyra watched the clock over the library tower, waiting for it to strike noon.

"Lyra!" called a voice from her right. She turned.

"Will?"

"Lyra!" Will laughed.

"Will, Will, how…how did you get here?" she stuttered.

"I used the knife, of course!"

"The knife? Didn't you break it?"

"I did, I just took the pieces out of the pouch, and all of a sudden it was mended. See?" He held up the knife for Lyra to see.

"Oh, Will…"

"Well? Can I come in?"

"Of course!"

Will widened the window so he could step through.

"There. Now we're together."

"Will?"

"Yes, Lyra?"

She paused, making sure she really wanted to ask the question. She decided she would. "Will, aren't you married?"

"I was. Tanya left me. She said she couldn't stay married to a man who was in love with someone in a different world."

"That's understandable, though, isn't it?" asked Lyra.

"It is," said Will fairly. "Are you married?"

"James died in an accident."

"May I ask what happened?"

"You may." Will waited for her to tell him, then realized that she was only giving him permission to ask. He laughed.

"What happened, then?"

"He was on a fishing boat, and it capsized."

"I'm sorry." There was a long silence.

"But you know what, Lyra?"

"What, Will?"

"It's all okay now, because we're together."

"For now. But what about you? You can't live as long as anyone else in my world, just like I can't live as long as anyone else in your world."

"Then we can leave both worlds. We'll go live somewhere else."

"Sounds fair," said Lyra.

"It does, doesn't it?" Will replied. He took her hand, helping her up. Kirjava nudged Pantalaimon to his feet.

Will closed the window that he had used to get to Lyra's world and opened up a new one.

"It's amazing that you can still do that."

"I'll know how to use it until I stop being the knife bearer."

"When will that be?"

"When I die."

"Don't die, Will." Lyra picked up Pantalaimon.

"Don't die, Lyra. Here." He took Lyra's hand and helped her through the window.

They were now in a tropical rainforest, and a light misty rain was falling.

"Now we'll both die at the same time," said Will.

"Yes," said Lyra. "Now we'll always be together."

Will took Lyra's hand, and they strolled off into the mist to die together.


End file.
